before 900;Middle English;Old Englishmīnmy; cognate with Old Norsemīn,Germanmein,Gothicmeina; see me

mine2

[mahyn] /maɪn/

noun

1.

an excavation made in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, precious stones, etc.

2.

a place where such minerals may be obtained, either by excavation or by washing the soil.

3.

a natural deposit of such minerals.

4.

an abundant source; store:

a mine of information.

5.

a device containing a charge of explosive in a watertight casing, floating on or moored beneath the surface of the water for the purpose of blowing up an enemy ship that strikes it or passes close by it.

6.

a similar device used on land against personnel or vehicles; land mine.

7.

a subterranean passage made to extend under an enemy's works or position, as for the purpose of securing access or of depositing explosives for blowing up a military position.

8.

a passageway in the parenchyma of a leaf, made by certain insects.

verb (used without object), mined, mining.

9.

to dig in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, etc.; make a mine.

10.

to extract coal, ore, or the like, from a mine.

11.

to make subterranean passages.

12.

to place or lay mines, as in military or naval operations.

verb (used with object), mined, mining.

13.

to dig in (earth, rock, etc.) in order to obtain ores, coal, etc.

14.

to extract (ore, coal, etc.) from a mine.

15.

to avail oneself of or draw useful or valuable material from:

to mine every reference book available in writing the term paper.

16.

to use, especially a natural resource:

to mine the nation's forests.

17.

to make subterranean passages in or under; burrow.

18.

to make (passages, tunnels, etc.) by digging or burrowing.

19.

to dig away or remove the foundations of.

20.

to place or lay military or naval mines under:

to mine an enemy supply road.

21.

Agriculture. to grow crops in (soil) over an extended time without fertilizing.

22.

to remove (a natural resource) from its source without attempting to replenish it.

Old English min "mine, my," (pronoun and adjective), from Proto-Germanic *minaz (cf. Old Frisian, Old Saxon Old High German min, Middle Dutch, Dutch mijn, German mein, Old Norse minn, Gothic meins "my, mine"), from the base of me. Superseded as adjective beginning 13c. by my.

n.1

"pit or tunnel in the earth for obtaining metals and minerals," c.1300, from Old French mine "vein, lode; tunnel, shaft; mineral ore; mine" (for coal, tin, etc,), of uncertain origin, probably from a Celtic source (cf. Welsh mwyn, Irish mein "ore, mine"), from Old Celtic *meini-. Italy and Greece were relatively poor in minerals, thus they did not contribute a word for this to English, but there was extensive mining from an early date in Celtic lands (Cornwall, etc.). From c.1400 as "a tunnel under fortifications to overthrow them."

v.2

"lay explosives," 1620s, in reference to old tactic of tunneling under enemy fortifications to blow them up; a specialized sense of mine (v.1) via a sense of "dig under foundations to undermine them" (late 14c.), and miner in this sense is attested from late 13c. Related: Mined; mining.

v.1

to dig, c.1300, "to tunnel under fortifications to overthrow them," from mine (n.1) or from Old French miner "to dig, mine; exterminate." From mid-14c. as "to dig in the earth" (for treasure, etc.). Figurative use from mid-14c. Related: Mined; mining.

I

pron.

12c. shortening of Old English ic, first person singular nominative pronoun, from Proto-Germanic *ekan (cf. Old Frisian ik, Old Norse ek, Norwegian eg, Danish jeg, Old High German ih, German ich, Gothic ik), from PIE *eg-, nominative form of the first person singular pronoun (cf. Sanskrit aham, Hittite uk, Latin ego (source of French Je), Greek ego, Russian ja, Lithuanian aš). Reduced to i by mid-12c. in northern England, it began to be capitalized mid-13c. to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.

The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]

The form ich or ik, especially before vowels, lingered in northern England until c.1400 and survived in southern dialects until 18c. The dot on the "small" letter -i- began to appear in 11c. Latin manuscripts, to distinguish the letter from the stroke of another letter (such as -m- or -n-). Originally a diacritic, it was reduced to a dot with the introduction of Roman type fonts.